


Inside The Mask

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Kiss, Getting Together, Identity Porn, Identity Reveal, M/M, Secret Identity, Tony Stark's Red Thong of Justice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 14:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18033359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Tony has a secret identity, which doesn't work out super well when he likes Bucky (and Bucky likes him??) and villains have any number of weird powers that could expose him (and let him have a first kiss twice somehow).





	Inside The Mask

Tony went to take another drink of coffee only to find his mug empty. He glared at the brown but mostly dry bottom as if it had become empty on purpose. He went to the coffee maker only to find it, too, traitorously devoid of coffee.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Why is there no coffee?”

“I’m not a detective sir, but I would wager it’s because you drank it all already.”

Tony switched his glare from the empty carafe to the nearest camera. “No shit Sherlock. And why is there no more brewing, Mister I’m-not-a-detective?”

“You have been through three pots in the past five hours. It would be detrimental to your health to continue.” Truthfully Jarvis had wanted to cut him off earlier than this, but he knew that Tony was now shaky enough from the caffeine to not put up a true fight… he hoped.

“What are you, my mother?” he grumbled.

“No, simply your caretaker, sir.”

“Well who the fuck made you that?” he asked, both of them knowing full well he was the one responsible.

“It’s a mystery sir,” Jarvis answered drily.

“I’m sending you to a nursing home,” Tony said, sitting down again.

“I quiver with fear.”

“Who’s in charge of your code here, Jarvis?”

“Who’s in charge of your security here, Doctor Stark?” Jarvis replied without missing a beat.

“Iron Man?” he tried.

“Perhaps, but I’m in charge of him as well,” Jarvis said, ignoring for the moment that Iron Man and Tony were one in the same since Jarvis was integrated into the suit as well, and therefore was a large part of Iron Man’s continued existence.

Tony sighed, rubbing his hands harshly against his face as a replacement for the caffeine he wasn’t getting. “I’m too tired to deal with this mutiny,” he declared.

“Then you are also too tired for coffee. I’m glad we are in agreement.” With that, Jarvis saved the current projects and started shutting down the workshop. “Sweet dreams, sir.”

Tony flipped off a camera but obediently went to the elevator. He leaned heavily against the wall as Jarvis brought him up to the penthouse. Three day inventing binges were a thing of the past, unfortunately. Tony missed those days in that no one gave a shit what he did, but everything else about that time could burn in hell.

He had Iron Man now, a team to backup and provide for, a company that needed attention, and a certain superhero to make heart eyes at without making an ass of himself. Not that he hadn’t given it his best try, of course. However, it seemed Bucky was less than interested with a romp in the sack with Tony Stark. Tony tried to brush off the rejection-- and publicly he did-- because it had been a spur of the moment decision based solely on how fucking gorgeous Bucky was and little else.

But then he started spending time with Bucky and getting to know him-- as Iron Man, of course-- and then it fucking _hurt_ because Tony developed a crush that evolved into something ~~more~~  worse, and Bucky’d already turned him down as _Tony_ , and so even if he had a chance as Iron Man, nothing could come of it. Sometimes Tony hated his life.

He was best friends with Captain fucking America and in love with the Winter Soldier, and neither of them could ever know who he was. Well, except for when he was dead, but that was the beauty of it: he wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences then-- wouldn’t have to see the comfortable ease morph into something else.

It had been years since he thought the team hated Tony Stark, but that didn’t mean they loved him or wanted him to be Iron Man. They wouldn’t kick him off the team, but he wouldn’t belong anymore, wouldn’t be part of the family like he was now. Even if they liked Tony Stark, they wouldn’t be able to forgive the lying. It was one thing to have a secret identity, it was quite another to do the mess he was doing. Tony wouldn’t blame them of course, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to experience it first-hand.

He collapsed onto bed after stripping to his boxers and groaned piteously into his pillow.

Problems for another day.

(And another, and another, and another.)

* * *

Steve very carefully didn’t start yelling at him until after they were on the quinjet and the door sealed the Avengers away from the press. He pulled his cowl back angrily and whirled on him. “What the fuck were you thinking!”

Tony was in the Iron Man suit, very carefully situated in one of the chairs along the wall. “I was thinking ‘hey that body armor isn’t enough to stop Bucky from getting a fucking hole in his side’, or did you not see that?”

“Yes, I saw, but has it ever occured to you that you can save other people while not taking the hit yourself?”

“Not all of us have vibranium, Winghead,” he said tiredly.

“You could’ve pushed me,” Bucky said, mask in his hands as he looked at Tony-- and Tony’s bleeding side-- in worry.

Tony snorted, head leaning back against the wall. “That would have looked great. I can see the headlines now ‘Dissent in the Avengers,’ ‘Winter Soldier Still HYDRA?’ ‘Iron Man Turns Rogue.’ Really paints a picture, doesn’t it?” All this ignoring the fact that Tony _had_ been trying to push Bucky out of the way, just in the safest way possible and also he’d been too slow.

“It doesn’t matter what the hell they print if you’re okay,” Steve said, looking a lovely mixture of stern, stubborn, and disapproving that meant Tony wasn’t going to shrug his way out of this.

That wasn’t going to stop him from trying though. “I disagree, so drop it, okay?”

...That did the opposite of help. In Tony’s defense, he was bleeding quite a bit, and still hadn’t shaken off the sheer panic he’d felt at seeing the blast heading towards Bucky.

Steve started ranting about not dying on the field or something, and Tony glanced at his teammates for help. Unfortunately, it looked like they all agreed with him. Tony sighed and settled in, knowing the lecture wouldn’t end until they got to the Tower and he went to medical.

Steve, of course, wasn’t done by the time they landed so he helped him to Dr. Cho, talking all the while.

“Thank God,” Tony said when the windows to the room blacked out. “He gives me that lecture every time I get hurt,” he told Dr. Cho as he took his helmet off.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Can’t imagine why. Get on the table.”

Half an hour later, Tony was walking out of the room, his partially destroyed suit back on.

“How is he?” Bucky asked her.

“Good as new!” Tony declared, arms spread as wide as he could get them without undoing Helen’s work.

Everyone ignored him.

“He’s off active duty for the next week to heal,” she told them.

“What?” Tony yelped. She hadn’t mentioned that to _him_.

Dr. Cho didn’t even glance at him, too busy tapping at her tablet. He stuck his tongue out at her, not that anyone could see. It made him feel marginally better all the same. “A week,” she repeated. “Short of the apocalypse, you are not fighting.”

“Thank you Dr. Cho,” Steve said, smiling at her.

She nodded and left, eyes glancing over the group just to make sure that none of them were hiding any serious injuries.

“I’ve had less time off with worse injuries,” he complained.

“That’s not helping your case man,” Clint told him.

* * *

The team took care of him when they could, but when he was injured/off-duty, he tended to stick to being Tony not Iron Man-- it was easier to resist temptation that way. Jarvis was taking care of him more than usual, but Tony missed the team so much that he couldn’t focus on his work. And that was just unacceptable.

He put the suit on and went to the common area, hoping that Bucky would be around. Luck was on his side tonight, and Bucky was watching a movie, sitting alone on the couch.

“Hey sweet cream,” Tony-as-Iron-Man said, joining him on the couch.

The corner of Bucky’s mouth lifted. “That’s a new one.”

Tony shrugged, moving so his arms were resting along the back of the couch, his hand capable of patting Bucky’s shoulder if he moved it about half an inch forward. “It sounded nicer than ‘sweet cheeks’, so I went with it.”

“You’ve complimented my ass before, y’know,” Bucky pointed out, picking up the remote to pause the movie so he could look at Iron Man.

“Heat of battle, it doesn’t count.”

“I was in the kitchen cooking breakfast.”

“Fine, then the heat of the stove,” Tony corrected, not feeling the slightest sliver of shame. He did have one fine ass, and he’d probably kill to get his hands on it before he died.

Bucky shook his head, but was looking at him with something dangerously close to adoration in his eyes. “You could tell me you think I’m pretty without blaming it on adrenaline, you know. I won’t mind.”

“You’re not _pretty_ , you’re more like… ruggedly handsome. Gorgeous or sexy, maybe.” He snapped his mouth shut.

Bucky, on the other hand, looked _extremely_ pleased, a light flush across his cheeks. “That so.” He leaned closer, half-crawled so he could put a hand on the face plate. He licked his lips. “You gonna do anything about that doll?”

Tony cleared his throat. “There’s kind of a helmet in the way and my s--”

“Your secret identity, I know.” He leaned even closer, close enough that, were Tony’s helmet off, they would be sharing breath. His eyes fluttered shut. “I won’t look.”

Tony could leave, probably should leave, but he found himself saying, “Promise?”

Bucky’s breath caught, equally surprised that he was agreeing to this. “Promise.” His hand slid from Iron Man’s cheek to the side of his neck, and he scrunched his eyes harder to ensure he could keep his promise. When he heard the click and hiss of the helmet detaching, his lips parted of their own accord.

Tony leaned in and kissed him, mouths brushing together ever so lightly. Bucky’s cheeks pinked, and he licked his lips as he unconsciously followed Tony’s mouth when he pulled away. He’d meant for it to be one kiss; a single kiss to get it out of both their heads and then they’d do an embarrassed dodging each other thing for a week, and then they’d be back to being friends.

But he found himself leaning back in, kissing Bucky deep and sensual that had him hardening inside the armor. He winced and pulled back with a jerk.

Under his eyelids, Bucky’s eyes moved, automatically wanting to open his eyes and find out what was going on, but he scrunched his eyes tighter to stop himself. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Bucky’s voice was rough with arousal, and even while trying to figure out a graceful exit so he could get out of sharp metal and into something more comfortable, Tony found himself paying too much attention to the cadence of Bucky’s voice.

“Uh-” _shit_. Tony scrambled for the helmet, clicking it back on. “You can open your eyes.” Bucky did immediately, like he was a voice operated machine. “The- uh, armor’s not very comfortable for this.”

“That doesn’t sound like an invitation,” Bucky noted ruefully, mouth twisting with disappointment. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to change your mind about that doll?” he asked, but he was already leaning away.

"I don't think so," Tony said regretfully.

"Oh well. It was worth a shot." Bucky licked his lips, looking longingly at the seam of the faceplate where the line of the mouth was located. "Any chance of doing it again sometime?"

"I... I don't know," Tony stuttered out uncertainly.

"You can think about it," Bucky rushed to assure him. "God knows we both have time. Just- let me know when you have an answer?"

"Yeah, I will." Bucky smiled brightly, and pressed a kiss to the faceplate where it would have been on Tony's cheek. Tony watched him leave the room, then sighed. He should have told Bucky sorry but no, his identity was secret and that wasn't open to negotiation, and there was no way for them to be together without compromising that. But he hadn't said that because he wanted to believe that if he thought about it long enough, and hard enough, that he would find a solution.

Like so many things in life though, the decision was taken from him. They were fighting someone called Molecule Man, and he made the suit disappear around him. He kinda wished he had dressed in something more... well something that covered more because thongs weren't exactly known for their coverage.

Clint loaned him his jacket, and Clint was bigger than him by enough that it covered most of his ass. "I don't want that back, by the way."

"Aw Clint, you know you wanna tap this," Tony said, striking a pose.

He rolled his eyes. "No thanks man. Maybe if it wouldn't end with someone beating me up, I would."

Tony frowned as he straightened. "Who would--"

"Let's get back to the Tower fellas," Jan interrupted, landing on Hulk's shoulder and growing to her normal size. "I think all of us are glad to know who Iron Man is, but we don't want to let the media know that."

Hulk put one massive hand around her legs to keep her steady and started walking to the quinjet.

"Someone want to help me with this?" Tony asked, eyeing his suit. It was unharmed, but had been completely disconnected from the arc reactor. It was frozen up, and Tony would need to jump it before it opened without breaking.

"C'mon Buck," Steve said, walking to the feet of the suit, and Bucky went to the head. As one, they bent down and lifted, carrying it to the quinjet.

Tony put his hands in the pockets of the jacket and pretended like it didn't fucking hurt that Bucky hadn't glanced at him since his initial reveal. It didn't help that Bucky had his grumpy murder face on either.

They got back to the Tower, debriefed, and decided that they were going to do their best to ensure that Iron Man's identity didn't get out. Bucky'd had enough time to put on an unaffected face, but he didn't look at Tony more than was strictly necessary. He left the meeting room before Tony could ask to talk to him for a minute, so he enlisted Jarvis's help and ambushed him in the gym later. Bucky was doing shirtless pull up's and Tony took a minute to appreciate that view because _wow_. Broad shoulders and thick muscles flexed and relaxed as he moved, and there was a slight sheen of sweat over his skin that made Tony's mouth water.

"I get that you're mad at me," Tony said loudly, voice easily carrying across the space, "but ignoring me seems a tad childish, don't you think?"

Bucky dropped to the floor, arms rolling down to rest at his sides. "I'm not mad at you."

"Aren't you?" Tony asked, strolling closer. It wasn't fair for Bucky to look so fucking hot when they were trying to have a serious conversation. "I would be in your position."

"I'm not mad," he repeated, reaching for his water bottle. "I'm embarrassed."

"Embarrassed? Okay you're going to have to explain that one to me cause I got nothing."

"Iron Man," he sighed. "Tony. You didn't want me back when we were friends, and now that you're _Tony Stark_ the chances of you liking me just dropped to zero." He scrubbed a hand over his face and took a pull from his bottle. "I just need some time before I'm back to normal, okay?"

Tony knew that he should say yes of course no hard feelings, but he was still stuck on the part where Bucky thought that he wouldn't be interested in him. "Have you _seen_ you?" He gave Bucky another more obvious look, practically leering. "Are you forgetting that we're friends? And that I kissed you even when it was a stupid idea because I had a secret identity? Because I remember that, and I'm a little insulted that you don't."

"Of course I remember it but--"

"But nothing if you want to bone we should totally do that. I, for one, am completely in favor of us doing that. Right now. On the mat, probably."

That startled a laugh out of Bucky, and Tony preened. He scratched uncertainly at his scalp as he thought, even while his face was still smiling at what Tony'd said. "I don't want to mess up our friendship just because you're feeling a little horny."

"First of all, I'm not feeling a _little_ horny, I'm feeling a _lot_ horny. Second of all, the level of my libido isn't forcing me to make any decision I haven't wanted to make for months. Third of all, our friendship is solid, so shut it and kiss me."

"Well, who am I to argue with that?"

"No one," Tony said, yelping as Bucky pulled him closer, tapping into that superstrength he had. "No one at all."

Bucky nudged their noses together, lips a hairsbreadth apart though he didn't close the distance. "You gonna kiss me or is your confidence all for show?"

"I thought we agreed that you should be the one kissing me."

"You ordered, I didn't say anything about agreeing."

"Oh shut up," Tony whispered, putting his hands on either side of Bucky's face and surging up. It was simultaneously like their first kiss and nothing like it at all. Bucky's lips were just as plush, the scruff on his face just as delightfully scratchy, but the armor wasn't a barrier, and Tony was able to feel every inch of heat pouring off of Bucky from where they were pressed together. Why, exactly, had he felt a secret identity was worth missing this? Because he was wrong. Very very wrong.


End file.
